Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-04-12
BEECHER'S ORATORY.
A LITTLE DRAMA WITH ITS SiTUA.
TONS ANO DENOUEMeNT
Seen. at a Ns-> Meeting IN TripIer HAn.
A Trick in orstory-The Inspiration oi
the Observation-Disclosures speech.

Seen. at a Ns-> Meeting in Tripier Hail.
Trick in Oratory-Th. Inspiration Of
tn. Mom.nt-Auti-sla..ry speech.
Years ago. when ! was quite a boy,
there was Il great disturbance in this city
over the Five Points. which at that time
WAS the most disgraceful Cesspoul Of in
iguity ON the face Of the earth. The au-
thoritics either would not or could not do
ANYTHING for its regeneration. Under the
Ia h Of public agitation the women Of
New York came together and organized
what was called the Ladies Home Mis-
Siunarv society. and called IA series of mass
meetings in Triplcr hall, all enormous
| building on Broadway that had been
erected in anticipation Of the ar
rival Of Jenny Lind These mass meet
ingS were unique. ! think they took
place on Saturday nights. Never before
had so many big guns been brought to-
grthcr on the platform as the ladies
gathered for these meetings Half hour
| addresses were made by all the most
eloquent orators of the American pulpit,
| irrespective Of denomination, and the great
hall was regularly packed 20 the donrwayS.
| On one occasion | remember CheeVer
Cuvler. the lamented DR. Foster, of the
Methodist church, and a score Of others,
| inCludin. Henry Ward Beecher, were
announced And the Hutchinson family
| and the Alleghaniaus Were To sing The
| speakers were all on their mettle, for they
were pitted against each other in a good
cause NV recollection is that DR. Foster
| tainted from excessive emotion, after one
| of the most startling appeals ever heard.
AN IMAGINARY DIALOGUE.
| Somewhere in the course ~ the evening
| Henry Ward Beecher was introduced. He
| was then in the full flower OF enthusiasm
| and far more clerical in cut than when in
| his maturity. Instead of taking the center
of the platform, as all the preceding
| speakers had done, he walked to the eN-
treme end and began an imaginary dia-
logue in which politician took part He
| asked him all kinds Of questions as TO the
| proper way TO regenerate the Five Points
| and got all kinds of absurd and evasive
| replies. When he had exhausted the ig-
norance and indifference Of this function
| ary he walked to the other end of the
| platform. and, with both hands extended
| and body bent over, as if looking into a
| hole, he said: We lay yoh down there for
| 50 much
Then back across the width Of the plat
| form TO begin another conversation with
| a physician The whole character of the
| dialogue changed instantly. The new
| man spoke in a new vein. He had gases
| and therapeutics at his finger ends He
would recenerate the Five Points with i
| six foot sewer and chloride Of lime He
! WAS visionary, technical and wholly mad
| equate, and he was carried over and
! placed in the same hole for 50 much"
| Then the same process was gone
through with an editor and Il philosopher
and an engineer, and by this time the
| vast assemblage was worked up 10 a
| pitch of intense expectation and suspense.
The one dominant interrngative emo
ton was-'Who will do this thing
| TRICK OF oRAToRY.
Never have | forgotten the effect pro
duced when The speaker took the middle
Of the stage for his perOration and said
| .'Nuw well take down the Christian
women of New York.
| And they seemed TO us to sweep dow's
like Nalkyrie with flaming swords.
Boy as vas knew, as soon rs | snt
away from the magnetic influence Of the
= ,eaker. that this was trick of ora'ory
| q which the method Of the playwright
mad been employed. We had been listen
lllG 10 u IllllC Will Its Ntii
dramatiS persona, its situations, its five
acts. with Il curtain, and its final denoue-
| ment.
Years afterwarG, standing there on his
lawn under one Of the trees he had him
self planted, trying 10 recall in the ruddy,
white haired man AT my side the eager,
,mpassioned, somewhat gaunt and ire
gistibly earnest speaker who had made
such an impression on my young mind, l
| re- Id him Of the scene in Tripler hall
2 ;ls,.d him if he had planned that
l,s..vt -,-ehand or left 1t to the sugges-
t... + -" moment.
]: a.: Tscullection was that it had &C
Cured 10 him just before he appeared on
the platform. He assured me that all his
best results in oratOry We're due To the in
spiration of the moment.
And then he told me how on one coca
sion he was making an anti slavery speech
at the old Broadway Tabernacle and there
hGd been left there by Arthur Tappan or
somebody else a chain that had been worn
in the south by {. slave. In my closing
appeal, said Mr.. Beecher, saw the chain
for the first time, and going over / picked
il up and throwing it down trampled upon
il as finished. The effect was electrical,
but il was unpremeditated.- Crinkle
in New York World.